This bothers me about the passing game

[BengalsRocker]

Originally Posted by Joelist

I don't think exchanging Livings (rated 56th at Guard out of 62 starters) for Boling (rated 22nd) was the issue. Also Zeitler has been a huge upgrade over the injured Williams and the horrifying McGlynn. That leaves Center which has been a revolving door.

Is Cook a bad center? No. But we have had three players at Center this year and Cook came in ice cold and rustier than a nail soaked in saltwater for a month. Robinson was more effective because he had enough reps with the Guards in particular that they were in sync. We have had pass protection problems and one of the problems has been pressure over LG and C.

Add in the lack of a legit #2 WR to be an outlet for Andy, lack of speed at RB and no real usage of scheme to defuse the pass rush and you get what we have seen. It makes me miss Bruce Coslet - when he was the OC and working with much lower quality personnel than we have now he did use scheme to get mismatches (like Carl Pickens being covered by a L.

All I can say is they'd better get some schemes in place to counter the pass rush. ASAP for the Texans.

This also goes for the D. They really need to keep an eye on Foster and those pesky screen passes. They'll be watching for our pass rush and dumping it off to him or the TE all day. No LBs out of position or overpersuing. Rey and Co. need to stay focused.

This is what we should be doing with Charles/Gresham and BJGE. If our line can't block them then let em' come through and exploit it like using someone's force against them in fighting.

[shaolinghost]

Originally Posted by Ryan Mc

But, why the dropoff since Sanu got injured? In the first four games Sanu didn't play any WR (although he did have the wildcat passing TD against Washington) and Jones played very sparingly ... and yet we scored 27+ points in three of those four games with 370+ yards of offense in 3 of those game. Four different receivers, including Binns and Tate, had at least one 40+ yard TD receptions in that stretch. Why was our offense so good the first 4 games of the season, really carrying us while our D was struggling with injuries, when Sanu and Jones barely played?

We played weaker defenses. Jacksonville, Washington(had the worst passD at the time), and Cleveland(missing Haden).

That's my theory anyway.

[Ron Mexico]

Originally Posted by shaolinghost

We played weaker defenses. Jacksonville, Washington(had the worst passD at the time), and Cleveland(missing Haden).

That's my theory anyway.

Maybe Gruden's gameplan has gotten predictable. I mean....the Offense was MUCH more productive in the early weeks. We all thought that this Offense would be a strong point, yet eventually, it's fallen back to the lower side of the middle of the pack. Maybe other teams are catching on to the way that he calls a game. I know that the passing game has seen a huge drop off in the second game of each of the division series' this year.

[M.W.]

Originally Posted by ExtraNirvana

Try blaming Green he has left a lot of catches on the field since Dallas. He's great but Green needs to step up too.

I have to agree with you. He sure has been playing like a decent WR instead of an all world WR like he is called.

I do think the OL is the biggest factor however.

[shaolinghost]

Originally Posted by Ron Mexico

Maybe Gruden's gameplan has gotten predictable. I mean....the Offense was MUCH more productive in the early weeks. We all thought that this Offense would be a strong point, yet eventually, it's fallen back to the lower side of the middle of the pack. Maybe other teams are catching on to the way that he calls a game. I know that the passing game has seen a huge drop off in the second game of each of the division series' this year.

Well, I think teams now know that bracketing coverage to AJ usually gets the job done.
Like I've said before, Hawkins is too short to really be effective over the middle.
Gresham isn't consistent enough to be considered a security blanket.
Marvin Jones isn't good enough, yet.(there's a reason he was available in the 5th)
So, Andy always goes to AJ when stuff breaks down, because he doesn't really trust anybody else to make a play.

As good as AJ is, he's not Megatron. We need another receiver that can be counted on to make a play; get open when the pocket breaks down and Andy has to scramble. Until that happens this team won't be SB contenders.

[graphicguy]

This offense is good. It's a confidence thing. Last season, Andy and A.J. really could let it all hang out. If they looked poorly, it could be chalked up to inexperience. This season, while the numbers on both are much better, they seem to be afraid to play with that "let my talent take over" attitude.

With Andy, since Gruden chastised him for wanting to fire to quickly. He wanted more of the play to develop. As such, Andy is holding onto the ball too long and not firing to the open man before taking the sack.

Gresh has been great to poor (thinking Caldwell part 2). All he has to do is look the ball into his hands before running (I got that drilled into me in high school and college football....look the ball into your hands before running). Sometimes it's the simple things that are the hardest to remember.

This offense needs to take a deep breath and trust in their abilities.

As far as comparing it to Carson, Chad, et al....there is no comparison. Carson couldn't get out of his own way if he had to move out of the pocket. If no one was open, Palmer was a dead duck. Andy has and will run with it, or move out of the pocket (something he should do more of). A.J. gets open more than Chad...he is a more gifted athlete. A.J. can get to balls Chad only dreamed of catching. Chad ran the wrong routes more than he ran the right ones.

Where Chad excelled was pushing off the defender to get open (and getting away with it).

A.J. is very disciplined in his routes. Focus on him during the game and see how precise he is. His cuts look like creases in a military uniform. They're perfect. What I wish he would do more is improvise a little out there. Double moves, hook and go, etc would benefit him (and Andy) greatly. He's the tallest guy in when caught in coverage. He can beat zone coverage almost as well as man-to-man coverage.

Give Andy credit, when he goes deep to A.J., if he's not on target, he's overthrowing him. If he was underthrowing him, Andy would have 10 more INTs in his stats.

[umkubas]

The passing game involves two particpants. The quarterback and the receiver.

The receivers that the Cincinnati Bengals employ (AJ Green, Marvin Jones, Jermaine Gresham....etc) have been rated on Jungle Noise as the elite of the National Football League (AJ Green) to various grades (Gresham, Jones.......etc.) I have no problem with the receivers on this squad, they all play well and have not cost a great deal of money.

The quarterback position for the Cincinnati Bengals has been a sore point for myself starting in Week 6 of the 2011 National Football League season.

But on the positive side, the Cincinnati Bengals have made the playoffs in consectutive years, a situation that has not been accomplished in 30 years. A win on the road in the playoffs is a situation that has never been accomplished by the Cincinnati Bengals. So the quarterback position of the Cincinnati Bengals must rate praise in the accomplishment of the consectutive playoff appearances.

Quarterback Dalton has been the mosr variable of the quarterbacks that are deserving of the defintion of a yearly playoff quarterback. Quarterback Dalton is frustrated by his inability to be a consistent "passer" that invariably ends up in the "high" pass that is incomplete or the dreaded interception.The defense that quarterback Dalton is still learning the position or it takes years to gain expertise for a weekly consistent quarterback is a weak one in my eyes.

I believe quarterback Dalton is unable to "step up" and deliver to Cincinnati Bengal fans the reason for playing in the National Football League, playoff victories. But only time will tell, by 7:30 PM Eastern on Saturday, January 5, 2013, quarterback Dalton will have answered many questions about the "passing game" for the Cincinnati Bengals.

[Ian Demagii]

Originally Posted by umkubas

The passing game involves two particpants. The quarterback and the receiver.

The receivers that the Cincinnati Bengals employ (AJ Green, Marvin Jones, Jermaine Gresham....etc) have been rated on Jungle Noise as the elite of the National Football League (AJ Green) to various grades (Gresham, Jones.......etc.) I have no problem with the receivers on this squad, they all play well and have not cost a great deal of money.

The quarterback position for the Cincinnati Bengals has been a sore point for myself starting in Week 6 of the 2011 National Football League season.

But on the positive side, the Cincinnati Bengals have made the playoffs in consectutive years, a situation that has not been accomplished in 30 years. A win on the road in the playoffs is a situation that has never been accomplished by the Cincinnati Bengals. So the quarterback position of the Cincinnati Bengals must rate praise in the accomplishment of the consectutive playoff appearances.

Quarterback Dalton has been the mosr variable of the quarterbacks that are deserving of the defintion of a yearly playoff quarterback. Quarterback Dalton is frustrated by his inability to be a consistent "passer" that invariably ends up in the "high" pass that is incomplete or the dreaded interception.The defense that quarterback Dalton is still learning the position or it takes years to gain expertise for a weekly consistent quarterback is a weak one in my eyes.

I believe quarterback Dalton is unable to "step up" and deliver to Cincinnati Bengal fans the reason for playing in the National Football League, playoff victories. But only time will tell, by 7:30 PM Eastern on Saturday, January 5, 2013, quarterback Dalton will have answered many questions about the "passing game" for the Cincinnati Bengals.

(bolding mine)

WRONG!

If you cant block them, you've got nothing!

Ian